Lieutenant-Colonel Monty Ormsby

Lieutenant-Colonel Monty Ormsby, who has died aged 89, was a fighting commander of a very high order and won a Military Cross at the first Battle of Cassino and a Bar in Malaya.

On the night of February 17 1944, the 1st Battalion (King Edward VII's Own) 2nd Gurkha Rifles was ordered to launch an attack in the hills north of Monte Cassino.

The monastery had been destroyed by Allied bombing the previous day, but the Germans still held the area in strength. They were equipped with automatic weapons concealed in well-defended posts and covered by machine guns firing from enfiladed positions on both flanks.

Ormsby, then a major, led "C" Company in the attack. As they advanced over a crest which formed the start line, they came under a devastating hail of machine-gun fire and grenades at short range, which took a heavy toll of the men as they fought their way through the thick, thorny scrub.

Within a few minutes Ormsby's company had been decimated and he had been wounded in the hand. He rallied the survivors, and, led by him, they closed with the enemy. Ormsby attacked an enemy post with pistol and grenades and killed the defenders.

He was wounded again, but despite his injuries and in considerable pain, he struggled to his feet and, under relentless machine-gun and mortar fire, organised the remnants of his company into a defensive position and arranged for the collection and evacuation of the wounded.

Ormsby, although weak through loss of blood, refused to be evacuated until he was sure that all his men had received medical attention. He was awarded an immediate MC, the citation stating that his fearless leadership and tenacity under the most difficult and dangerous conditions had been beyond praise.

Montague Albert Ormsby was born on September 16 1916 at Madras, India. His father had business interests in the country and returned there after the First World War. Always known as Monty, young Ormsby was educated at Uppingham and commissioned into the Supplementary Reserve of Officers in 1938.

He joined the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (the Sirmoor Rifles) and served with the 2nd Battalion in Waziristan. In 1941 he accompanied the battalion to Secunderabad before being appointed deputy assistant provost marshal at HQ 6th Indian Infantry Division.

Ormsby went to Iraq with Divisional HQ and, after transferring to the 1st Battalion, saw action in North Africa. In April 1943 he was at Main HQ at the battle of Wadi Akarit and, when the adjutant was wounded, he took over.

Later that month he was left alone when the other officers went on reconnaissance and the Germans made an unexpected assault. Ormsby led a counter-attack and saved what might have turned into a very difficult situation.

He went with the battalion to Greece in November 1944 before moving to the regimental centre at Dehra Dun to command "A" Training Battalion. In 1947 he rejoined the 1st Battalion in Santa Cruz as second in command and afterwards commanded a company of the battalion in Malaya in the Emergency.

He had the ability to inspire his men to seek out the enemy and deal with them, and his tactical skills in the jungle resulted in the death or capture of many of the terrorists and the destruction of their camps. He was awarded a Bar to his MC.

In 1950 Ormsby was promoted lieutenant-colonel upon taking command of the 1st Battalion. After serving on the staff of HQ 26 Gurkha Infantry Brigade and then as DAAG at HQ Malaya Command, he returned to the battalion as second in command and then took command again in 1958 in Hong Kong and subsequently in Malaya.

Ormsby moved to Warminster in 1960 and commanded the Company Commander's Division of the School of Infantry. He became commandant of the Army Methods of Instruction Centre at the School in 1963. His last appointment in the Army was as OC Recruit Instructor's Wing.

After retiring in 1970 Ormsby joined the Wiltshire Army Cadet Force (WACF) as its executive officer. He established an immediate rapport with adults and cadets within the Force, and organised a training conference of county executive officers which served as a valuable forum for the exchange of ideas.

Ormsby selected and encouraged a considerable number of young men to join the WACF as adult instructors and, when he judged that they had gained enough maturity and experience, to offer themselves for commissioning. He was appointed MBE in 1981.

After 45 years service in the Regular Army and the cadet movement, Ormsby retired to a village in Wiltshire. As a younger man he had been keen on shooting, but he remained an enthusiastic fisherman and he was proud of having caught a 28 lb salmon in the late 1990s.

Later, while salmon fishing on the west coast of Scotland, he suffered a severe stroke which resulted in a paralysed right arm. With characteristic fortitude, he taught himself to fish with his left arm and derived great pleasure from fishing for trout near his home in the years that followed.

Monty Ormsby died on February 14. He married, in 1945, Diana (Beanie) Warnford. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their son.